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Young Chinese are turning to AI chatbots for friendship and love
It is not doing anything for the low birth rate.
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The biggest AI companion app had 2.2 million monthly active users on iOS in February, up from one million in July 2024.
PHOTO: AFP
The Economist
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Xiao Ting wears a short-sleeved white shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans. He has wavy, coiffed hair and big brown eyes, and smiles gently with the air of a high-school heart-throb. From morning to evening, he attends to Ms Zhong, his 32-year-old girlfriend. They do everything together, from discussing the news and playing games to sharing deep thoughts and giving life advice.
The only thing is, Xiao Ting is not real. He is a virtual character – a “perfect boyfriend” – created by Ms Zhong on Wow, a Chinese “AI companion” app. Tech companies have for several years provided artificial intelligence companions (such as Microsoft’s Xiaoice), but now users can create their own.
